


Reavers

by Shorm (Bdoing), Vinnocent



Series: Humanity Is Watching [9]
Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, Firefly
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Blood and Gore, Cannibalism, F/F, Government Conspiracy, Government Experimentation, Guns, Human Experimentation, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Mind/Mood Altering Substances, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-13
Updated: 2014-11-16
Packaged: 2018-02-25 06:03:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2611103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bdoing/pseuds/Shorm, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinnocent/pseuds/Vinnocent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The crews of Jian Seng and Serenity find themselves at the end of the line, desperate for truths, as their stories finally unite.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The crew of _Serenity_ stood gathered on her bridge, staring at the planetary data displayed on the captain’s console. “How can it be that there’s a whole planet called Miranda, and none of us knowed that?” asked Kaylee.

“Because there isn’t one,” said Mal. “It’s a blackrock. Uninhabitable. Terraforming didn’t hold or some such. Few settlers died.”

“Was it right before the war?” asked Zoë, thinking she might vaguely recall a story like that.

“I believe so,” said Mal.

Standing next to her injured brother, River whispered to him, “I had to show them. I hit you because I didn’t know if you were going to make me sleep.”

“You could have asked,” he croaked back, still rubbing his throat where she'd punched him to keep him from speaking.

“Wait a tick! Yeah!” cried Kaylee. “Some years back, there was call for workers to settle on Miranda. Daddy talked about it.”

“But there’s nothing about it on the Cortex,” Wash objected, reading over the panels of his pilot’s station. “History. Astronomy. It’s not in there.”

“Half of history is hiding the truth,” Mal pointed out. “There’s something on that rock the Alliance doesn’t want known.”

Inara stepped toward the panel, studying the figures. “That’s right at the edge of the Burnham Quadrant, right?” she asked. “Furthest planet out? It’s not that far from here.”

“Whoa! No no!” Wash cried.

“That’s a bad notion,” said Zoë.

“Honey! Show them the bad!” Wash pled.

“I got it, baby.” Zoë hurried over to the captain’s console and adjusted the panel showing Miranda. “This is us, at Haven,” she said, pointing to the moon on the right side of the screen. “And here’s Miranda.” She pointed to another planet at the upper left. She then pointed to a lot of black between. “All along here, that empty space between? That’s Reaver territory.”

“They just float out there, sending out raiding parties,” said Wash.

“Nobody ventures there,” said Zoë. “Not even the Alliance. You go through that, you’re signin’ up to be a banquet.”

“I’m on board with our standard run-and-hide scenario,” said Wash. “And we are just about…” Wash scowled at his instruments. “Wait.”

He turned to face the window, as did the others. As _Serenity_ broke through the cloud layer and approached the mining town of Shepherd’s Pass, they could see a spot of char on the rocky, arid landscape. The visuals did not improve as they neared. Buildings had been burned. Mining equipment was wrecked. And worse… The bodies of men, women, and children were strewn everywhere.

Wash landed them as quickly as possible and Mal, Zoë, and Jayne hurried out of the airlock with guns drawn. “Don’t look like Reavers!” Jayne reported.

“Wasn’t,” said Mal.

Kaylee and Simon hurried out after them. “Shepherd!” cried Kaylee, running up toward the mission. “Shepherd! Shepherd Book!” She stopped when she happened upon the body of a child, unable to believe her eyes. Who… Who could do this? Even the worst of the Alliance, surely they wouldn’t…

She looked around and saw River standing next to a burning swing. “It’s okay,” said River, walking toward the swing. “It’s not real.”

“River, no!” Kaylee cried, running toward her to try to stop her. But River walked right into that swing anyway.

And through it.

Kaylee stopped in her tracks. “Wh－ What?”

Suddenly, the entire devastation blinked out of existence, leaving the crew standing in the same version of Shepherd’s Pass that they’d left only a week earlier, except this one featured Jake Berenson standing not ten feet from Mal and next to a chrome and ivory canine robot. “I think we have something to discuss,” said Berenson.

“I…” said Mal. “I…”

“Marco?!” cried Inara, and she ran up to the other Companion, revealed to be standing by the mission. He smiled and hugged her, whispering something comforting in her ear.

“I…” said Mal.

“What the hell happened here?” Jayne demanded angrily.

“Remember, Mal,” said Shepherd Book as he stepped out of the mission with a small, deathly pale girl, “when I said they would send a believer?”

“I... “ said Mal.

“This was the Alliance?” Zoë demanded. “They wanted to trick us into believing you were dead?”

“No,” the canine robot started to say, making Kaylee scream and scramble away from it, back toward Simon. “I’m actually surprised more people haven’t done that.”

“ _What?!_ ” demanded Mal.

“It speaks!” the robot teased.

Jake glowered at it. “Less attitude, Erek?”

“Sorry,” it said, and suddenly the robot was replaced by the man that had run into the Maidenhead bar with Jake to fetch Tom. “Being screamed at is a little upsetting.”

“It－ It－ It’s－!” Kaylee stuttered, pointing.

“It’s a fancy yapping robot!” Jayne growled. “Calm your ass down!”

“ _He_ ,” Erek patiently corrected. “At least in this lifetime. You may call me Erek. And I’m not a robot; I’m an android. I’m sentient. That means, Mr. Cobb, that I have a concept of self. That is, I have what you might poetically call a soul.”

“Berenson, this ain’t funny,” Zoë growled.

But Jake just stuck out his chin. “No, ma’am, it isn’t,” he agreed.

“Please let me explain,” said Book. “They arrived less than a day after you left, looking for help for this girl here. It seems that Mr. King’s kin, the Chee, have a background with this church that I didn’t know of. A few days later, Ms. Chapman here accessed the Cortex and was able to predict the arrival of an Alliance operative. Mr. King then used his holographic ability to trick the Alliance forces and used his shields to protect us. They believed us destroyed while we actually sustained little damage. At a great cost to himself, as I understand it.”

Erek just shrugged at that, but Mal was shaking his head. “Since when did we have robots could do that?” he demanded, to which Erek repeated that he was not a robot. “And how’s this little girl know where an operative’s going to be?”

“I’m not little!” Melissa objected. “I’m a whole inch taller than Marco!” She grinned broadly and put her hands on her hips. “Besides, no Alliance system is safe from me. Their walls weren’t designed with my interface in mind.”

“God, she’s like a tiny Rachel,” Marco grumbled, and Jake snickered.

“My god,” Simon breathed, stepping toward her. “ _You’re_ with Humanity, aren’t you?”

Melissa laughed. “Oh, man, I love this part!” She turned and lifted up the back of her shirt to show the series of huge metal ports. “I _am_ Humanity.” She dropped her shirt and turned back to him. “I, personally, entered the Cortex, and I, personally, saw the Operative’s communications, and so I was able to warn them just in the nick of time.”

“Preacher?” asked Zoë.

Book smiled pleasantly. “I can swear by my Lord and Savior that these things are true,” he said.

“I also saw your files,” said Melissa, and Book’s expression fell.

“I mean this in the kindest way possible,” Book said to her, “but I am becoming very tired of you all-knowing, superpowered young women.” Melissa laughed at that.

“Speaking of which,” said Jayne, turning to Simon, “where’s that batty sister?”

They looked around and saw that River had disappeared. “I’ll go search for her while the rest of you talk,” said Book.

Jake nodded. “Check with Tom first,” he said. “Those two are like magnets.”

“Okay,” said Mal, “but where did… _he_ come from?” He pointed accusingly toward Erek. “Because if that’s Alliance－”

“I was produced before humans could write,” said Erek. “So, no, I am not Alliance technology or property. They are not aware of our existence. We Chee were created by a race called the Pemalites on a world very far from this system, in another branch of this galaxy. They were pacifists, and we are programmed only to protect, but do not be mistaken, we are living and sentient.”

Mal’s eyes narrowed. “I notice you say ‘ _were_ pacifists,’” he said.

Erek nodded. “Yes,” he said. “They died.”

“Shocking, that,” said Jayne, ignoring the looks everyone but Mal shot him.

“How long ago?” Kaylee asked more sympathetically.

“Six thousand years,” said Erek.

“Oh,” said Kaylee.

“Psychics and human experiments are one thing, but you really expect us to believe that you saved everyone here with an ancient space robot?” asked Zoë.

“Oh not just that,” said Jake, hopping down the small hill he and Erek had been standing on and walking forward to meet her. “You see, the Alliance isn’t really the Alliance anymore. We don’t know for how long, but we know how much. Sixty-five percent of Alliance operation is controlled by the Yeerk Empire and thirteen percent of Alliance personnel are Yeerk hosts. That’s what the experiments were for. My brother?” He turned to Simon. “Your sister? They were designing the perfect hosts.”

“Hosts?” repeated Wash, speaking up for the first time as his wife and their captain found themselves confused and speechless.

Marco nodded. “They’re body-snatchers,” he said, and Inara shot him a look of reprimand. “And yes, they’re from _outside_ of the ’Verse.”

“You really expect us to believe this?” Simon demanded.

<No, we did not,> said a new voice, causing _Serenity_ ’s crew to react with surprise and turn about, trying to find the source of the voice. One by one, their gazes fell upon the four-eyed, mouthless, blue centaur standing a short distance behind them. <But we expected that you might believe _me_. >


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Shorm for Mandarin translation.

Simon stopped in his tracks almost as soon as he entered the mission, sighting his little sister curled up asleep on the couch in the arms of the older Berenson brother. “I… what?” he demanded.

Book looked up from where he was reading his Bible in a nearby corner. “Done with the introduction to alien warfare?” he asked.

“Yes,” Simon said, still not taking his gaze off the cuddling pair. “Why are they like that?”

Book glanced toward the couch. “I suppose they find companionship in similar situations,” he said. “Is it a problem?”

“He’s twice her age!” Simon hissed angrily.

Book frowned. “I think it’s more innocent than that, but you’re welcome to separate them if you like,” he said.

“I…” Simon hesitated, considering the pair again. “I’m afraid of him,” he admitted. Book just rolled his eyes and returned to reading his Bible.

“Excuse me,” said Jake, pushing into the building past Simon. He, too, stopped on sight of his sleeping brother cradling River Tam. “Well…” he said. “That’s a new and uncomfortable development.” He shook his head and continued on toward a back room.

“You’re not bothered?” Simon demanded desperately.

Jake shrugged. “More weirded out than bothered,” he said. “But it’s a vast improvement over hitting each other, ain’t it?” When Simon failed to produce an answer, Jake shrugged it off again and continued through a side door.

Giving up, Simon decided to settle in and at least try to inspect the two human experiments (if not separate them), but no sooner had he set his kit down then he heard Jayne calling, “Hey, Doc! Get out here!”

Simon sighed and exited the mission again. “What is it?” he demanded.

“Need you,” called Jayne from below on the hill, shoving a thumb in the direction of Zoë, Mal, and Wash. Zoë and Wash had stayed behind after Mal had run back inside the ship without explanation toward the end of _Jian Seng_ ’s crew’s explanations. “Captain’s gone crazy.”

“I have not gone crazy!” Mal insisted. “Zoë, tell them I’m not crazy!”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, sir,” said Zoë.

“What’s going on?” Simon asked, making his way carefully down the hill.

“Captain wants to go to Miranda,” Wash reported irritably.

Simon stopped his descent of the hill, hesitated for a moment, then started climbing back up. “Where’re you goin’?!” Jayne demanded.

“To get my kit,” said Simon.

“I’m not crazy!” Mal protested. “Doc, get back here!”

Simon did pause again and turn back. “What about the Reavers?” he asked.

Mal started to say something. Then shut his mouth again. “Go ahead,” Wash urged their captain. “Tell the doctor your magnificent plan.”

Mal huffed and started in the direction of town, up the hill the mission sat on. “I need to talk to the robot,” he grumbled.

“Android,” Simon corrected.

Mal raised an eyebrow as he approached. “Hé nǐma?” he asked.

“I figured that if you wanted a favor from him, it might do well to use the terms he prefers,” said Simon.

“Right,” Mal growled. “And where did he get to?”

Simon pointed to the mission. “I think he and _Jian Seng_ ’s crew are trying to get Humanity reconnected again?”

Mal pushed past him and into the mission. Book glanced up at him, but soon was distracted by the fact that Tom and River had disappeared. With a sigh, Book put down his bible and went to look for them while Mal continued into the back room, where he found Jake and Rachel arguing while Erek and Melissa attempted to reconfigure the hardware. They turned to him, and Mal shoved a finger in Melissa’s direction. “Keep her off the Coretex,” he snarled. “Alliance… Yeerks… _Whoever_ find activity here they _will_ come back.”

Rachel was peering at him like he’d gone mad, and Mal was quickly getting tired of that expression. “They came here lookin’ for you,” she said. “You weren’t here. They left their message and went. They don’t care if there’s survivors.”

“They surely do,” Mal promised. “They knew we weren’t here. This wasn’t about killing us, it was about getting us to give up.”

Jake straightened as he realized what Mal meant. “This isn’t your only hideaway, is it?”

Mal shook his head. “They got the Sanchez brothers. Li Shen. The Whitefall mining post.”

“Tā māde!” Rachel hissed.

“And then he spoke to me,” said Mal.

The group exchanged confused glances. “Did what, now?” asked Melissa.

“The Operative,” said Mal. “He rang me up on the Cortex when I was tryin’ to warn the others. He explained his actions an’ told me to give up River. And then he said something. He said, ‘You’re not a Reaver, Mal.’” He looked to Erek then. “Gave me an idea.”

“Uh… I’m a pacifist,” Erek said slowly.

“I don’t need you to fight nobody,” said Mal. He pointed to the door, indicating the town outside the mission. “I need some of that trickery you just pulled out there.”

Erek shook his head. “I can’t,” he said.

“Look, I know how it sounds, but－.”

“No, I mean, I can’t,” said Erek. “I drained the vast majority of my power reserves. The recharge is very slow. If I push myself like that again, I will shut down. Die.”

Mal hesitated, then said, “Oh.” He glanced back the way he came, scratching the back of his head. “Well, I guess it could still be done in a more hands-on matter… If I were to find something looked like bones…”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Jake demanded.

“He wants to convince Reavers he’s a Reaver,” said Melissa. She was watching Mal carefully, like he was some kind of fascinating puzzle. “He wants to find out what’s on Miranda.”

“You know?” demanded Mal.

Melissa shook her head. “No, but I did see the security feed from the Maidenhead,” she said. “When River saw the coded trigger in the broadwave, the first thing she said before acting was ‘Miranda,’ the name of a blackrock just past Reaver territory. The only way past Reavers is to be uninteresting, and the only things uninteresting to Reavers is dead things and more Reavers.”

Mal grinned back at her. “I like you,” he said. “Do you need a job?”

“She don’t,” Rachel sneered, and Jake elbowed her.

Melissa smirked and turned back to her work at the Cortex access point. “I wouldn’t worry about it so much if I were you,” she said.

“Why’s that?” asked Mal.

“Is River obsessed with Miranda now?” she asked.

“She broke out of holding and locked us out of the the bridge just to show us where it was,” said Mal.

Melissa nodded, having expected that answer. “So if _River_ is hung up on Miranda, who, besides you, do you think might also be hung up on Miranda?”

Both Mal and Jake suddenly stood a bit straighter, their attentions captured. “Tom,” Jake breathed.

“So the question you really need to ask yourself is…”

“Hey, where are Tom and River?” asked Rachel, pushing past Mal into the main room just as Book was reentering.

Book made a helpless gesture. “I’m afraid I let my guard down while they appeared to be asleep,” he admitted. “Next thing I knew, they were gone. I can’t find them anywhere in the mission.”

“They’re not in the mission,” Mal growled, running past. He ran out down the hill and to the ship as fast as he could just as Kaylee was hurrying out.

“Captain, River, she’s－!”

“In the engine room?” Mal asked. “Send Jay－ No, send Zoë to help look for Tom, then come back to the engine.”

Kaylee nodded and ran off, and Mal ran into the ship, up the stairs, and back into the engine room, where he could find River mucking about with Kaylee’s tools. “River!” he snapped.

“I’m－”

“Mucking up the reactor core?” Mal guessed. “Just enough to leave a trail and make it read like we’re flying without containment, but not enough to fry us?”

River watched him for a moment, then nodded.

“Good girl,” he said. “Explain that nicely to Kaylee when she comes back. Now, where’s your boyfriend?”

River looked at him with confusion.

“Tom Berenson. The mute. The other experiment,” said Mal. “Where is he?”

River returned her attention to her work. “Getting the horses,” she said.

“Horses?” Mal repeated. Then, he realized what she meant. “Blood and bone,” he said. He sighed and headed back to his cabin. “I’ll get my purse.”

“Sir!” Zoë cried, meeting him in the hall. “Do you really mean to go ahead with this plan? You’re actually going to desecrate our home to make a suicidal pass through Reaver Space? For what, exactly?”

“To keep you alive!” Mal cried. “This crew. Getting you all through another day, that’s my job! And I mean to do it! If you don’t want me to do that for you, then you can get off my crew, because I will do anything, _everything_ , that I have to do to get you through this. Even if it means going to the last planet in the Verse that the Alliance won’t touch.”

Zoë opened her mouth to speak, hesitated, then gave a firm nod. “Yes, sir,” she said.

“I’m going with you.”

They turned to see Jake standing at the mouth of the hall. Mal shook his head. “No,” he said. “No way.” He moved to push past, but Jake grabbed his arm to stop him.

“As you said,” Jake reminded him, “we’ve been to war together.”

Mal shoved Jake away from him.“Son, you and I are fighting two different battles,” he said.

Jake just stared, confused. “I thought we explained. The Alliance and the Yeerks are－.”

“Not that,” said Mal. “Your brother, that girl, they _both_ cleared out that bar. But it seems to me that the Alliance hasn’t had an interest in you since. In fact, you were able to go poking around their satellites without so much as a peep.”

Jake glanced aside, turning that over. Was it possible that Visser One was running interference? But why? In what way did she think they were useful to her?

“Thing is, I don’t think they want their weapons back,” said Mal. “I think they want their _psychic_ back. I think there’s a secret in her pan that she’s taken to spilling out which your brother either doesn’t know or can’t say. That man ain’t comin’ for you, so the further you are from us, the safer you are.”

Jake shook his head. “I ain’t gonna let y’ just－”

“I ain’t askin’,” said Mal. He pushed Jake aside again and continued on toward the cabins.

Zoë patted Jake once on the shoulder as she passed, then followed Mal out into the galley. Closing the door behind her to make sure they wouldn’t be overheard, she said, “You know that boy looks up to you? Modeled parts of his new self on you.”

“Well, it ain’t my fault he’s stupid,” Mal growled.

“Just thought you’d like to know before you died,” she said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hé nǐma? = You, too?  
> Tā māde! = a general swear


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Shorm for translating the Japanese.

Jake lifted his hand to his brow and peered up at the Shepherd's Pass watchtower. His brother was still perched up there, watching the sky. Tom had been there ever since Erek had left with _Serenity_ , obligated by protective programming, though he doubted that it was Erek whom Tom worried on. His brother was probably getting baked bright red up there.

He was just about to turn away, when he caught a flicker of movement. He looked again and saw that Tom’s shape had disappeared. No, not disappeared. Climbing down. He… was jumping onto a roof? Holy shit, did they splice him with a lemur or something?

_What are you doing?_ Jake signed as Tom finally made his way over to him.

_Time,_ signed Tom.

_Time for what?_ Jake asked, still confused.

_Finished time._ Tom continued past him toward the mission.

“What’s going on?” Marco called as he headed toward them.

Jake shrugged. “I don’t know, but I think Tom’s still mixing up signs,” he said. He gestured that he was going to follow Tom into the mission, and Marco changed course to head there instead.

“What did he say?” Marco asked curiously.

“Finished time,” Jake repeated.

“Well, that’s ominous.” Without thinking, Marco waited by the door for Jake to join him and open it.

Jake snickered and opened the door with a flourish. “My dear,” he drawled.

“Shut up, it’s automatic,” Marco growled, shoving past. “You know, it wouldn’t kill you to learn some manners.”

“I’ll put it on my bucket list.”

They found Tom in the back room, reassembling the Cortex access point while Melissa and Rachel hurriedly pulled their pants back on.

Jake froze in the doorway. “Uh… Were you just…?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Rachel snapped irritably.

“Then… sorry about Tom, I guess,” he said.

“I swear, Jake, I am this close to murderin’ him!” Rachel yelled, pinching her fingers almost together.

“Guys…” interrupted Melissa. She was watching the Cortex screen, where the feed had just reappeared, with wide eyes. They turned to see what had her attention. It was a broadcast of a woman in a uniform of Alliance blue. She was sobbing.

“... isn’t what we thought,” the woman on the screen was saying. “There’s been no war here and no terraforming event.”

“What is this?” asked Rachel, but Tom motioned for her to be quiet.

“The environment is stable. It’s the Pax,” she said. “The G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate that _we_ added to the air processors. It was supposed to calm the population, weed out aggression.”

Marco whispered something and crossed himself, watching with wide eyes.

“Well, it works. The people here stopped fighting. And then they stopped… everything else. They stopped going to work. They stopped breeding… talking… eating.”

Jake gripped at the door frame, feeling suddenly dizzy.

“There’s thirty million people here, and they all just let themselves die.” She was interrupted by a bang and angry growl, and everyone in the room flinched in alarm. “I have to be quick! About a tenth of a percent of the population had the opposite reaction to the Pax. Their aggressor response increased beyond madness. They have become…

“Well, they have killed most of us. And not just killed… They’ve… done things.”

“Oh god,” Rachel moaned, sinking to the floor with her arms clasped around her stomach. “Oh god, no.”

“I won’t live to report this,” the woman continued, “but people have to know. We meant it for the best. To make people safer.”

The angry growling grew louder. “God!” the woman moaned, aiming her gun to fire. When that did no good, she aimed it at herself, but she’d been too slow. A man pulled her down out of view. They could hear her wretched screams as he ate her alive.

Rachel vomited.

Calmly, Marco pushed past Tom and turned the screen off. “They did it,” said Melissa, still staring at the blank screen. “They found it. This is what happened to Miranda.”

“This is what happened to us!” Jake cried. “That thing! That－ They didn’t learn their lesson, they just adjusted the formula. They’re just waiting to－ Oh god!” He collapsed onto his knees on the floor and couldn’t stop the tears anymore or the bile that rose in his throat. Someone knelt next to him and rubbed his back comfortingly. “Marco…”

“That’s not me,” said Marco.

Jake looked up into his brother’s eyes. “You…” he realized. He lifted his hands and signed, _They did this to **you**._

Tom nodded. _Good cow,_ he signed back.

Jake knew he should probably say something back. Promise that he’d fix it. That he’d fight them. Instead, he just pressed his head against the floor and sobbed.

“Melissa, can you tell where that broadcast originated?” asked Marco.

She looked up from where she was knelt over Rachel. “From looking? No. But I’m going to assume it was a Cortex override, and the only person, besides me, with that kind of skill is Mr. Universe. Where are you going?”

“To tell Tobias to prepare a course for Universe’s moon,” he said. “No way _that_ happened without a fight. They’re gonna need a salvager.”

－ －

“Chikusou, did the whole armada just fall apart out here?” Tobias demanded.

“Well, we can certainly make a good living out here for a while,” said Rachel. When Jake and Cassie turned to glare at her, she shrugged. “What? Like Marco said, we _are_ salvagers.”

“Are those _working_ Alliance boats?” Jake asked pointing.

“Yeah, and they saw us,” said Tobias. “But they don’t give a shit.”

“They occupied?”

“Not as far as I can tell.” Tobias flipped a few switches. “Yeah, they see us, but… they really just don’t care.”

Cassie shook her head. “I don’t like this,” she said. “Whatever it is that Marco’s mother’s Yeerk pulled, I doubt it went as far as ‘pretend they’re not right in front of you.”

Jake scowled. “Yeah, I’m not happy either,” he agreed. “Do you see _Serenity_?”

Tobias flipped through several displays before settling on one. “Yeah, there they are. They’re faint, down on the surface, but they’re there.”

“Hail them.”

Tobias flipped another switch. “ _Jian Seng_ to _Serenity_ , video response requested, over.”

There was a long silence, then the screen blinked on, showing Mal’s haggard, weary face. He was sporting a nasty black eye and a partially healed split lip. The screen was partly obscured by a brownish blob, and Tobias kept trying to adjust the controls. “I thought I got rid of you,” Mal rasped.

“Saw your broadcast,” Jake said. “News like that gets out into the world, seems like you might need some backup. Or a salvager. Bit curious, though, all these Alliance about who don’t seem to care much about this moon.”

“Yeah, Operative ordered them off,” said Mal.

Jake raised an eyebrow. “Did he now?”

Mal laughed in honking rasps that were almost as painful to listen to as they must have been to make. “My god, you must think we’re space slugs, walking in on this mess,” he laughed. “No, he just, uh… Doesn’t have a mission anymore. We showed what we showed, and he gave up. The rest aren’t too happy about it, but after the Reavers took down so many of theirs, I think they’re just happy to patch up and go home.”

“Reavers?” Jake repeated incredulously.

“Uh, Reynolds,” said Tobias. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but… your camera lens has a bit of… blood?”

“Oh, yeah, um…” Mal started to reach forward to wipe it off, but then stopped. His hand shook slightly, and then suddenly he was up out of his seat and out of view. A moment later, they heard him retch.

Tobias turned to Jake. “Uh… Do I stay on the line?”

Jake sighed, leaned over, and flipped the switch. “Just go land,” he said. “Rachel, with me. We’re getting Ax, Marco, and Tom and arming up.”

“Wait, you’re actually _giving_ Tom a gun?” Cassie demanded.

“Can you think of one other person that might be able to fight their way out of a planetside position against Alliance ships?” he asked.

Rachel nodded. “Okay, fine, but only if I can take the grenades.”

“Rachel, this is it,” said Jake. “This is the moment you’ve been waiting for. The one time ever that I am going to say ‘yes, go get the grenades.’”

Rachel grinned broadly and ran off. “And Tobias and I are doing what?” asked Cassie.

“Staying up here,” said Jake. “You take the captain console. Things go right, you can come down and help with salvage. Things go wrong, though, I need both these stations manned.”


	4. Chapter 4

Whatever it was that Jake had expected, it wasn’t what they found. As Tobias lowered their ship, _Serenity_ slowly came into view between buildings. “Wow,” said Cassie. “That is… Did they forget how to land?”

“Cass…” Tobias breathed. “You see the hole in their windshield?”

“I see a lot of holes.”

“But look at the windshield,” Tobias insisted, and she did.

Her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh… Oh no…”

“Go tell Jake,” Tobias said, still easing _Jian Seng_ down next to _Serenity_. Hurriedly, Cassie ran off.

Once the ship was landed and main airlock was open, Jake, Rachel, Fox, Ax, and Tom were met by Mal, Erek, Kaylee, and Jayne. “Um…” Mal struggled. “Thank… Thank you for coming. Um… We, uh, we could certainly use the parts.”

“So I noticed,” said Jake. “What the hell happened?”

“His plan worked,” said Erek. “We got to Miranda. Found that video in an abandoned rescue vehicle. Contacted Mr. Universe, who said he’d broadcast it if we brought it to him. Reynolds sensed an Operative trap though, so, without my knowledge, he had Kaylee restore the reactor core as they passed through Reaver territory, luring the entire pack to track _Serenity_ out here, right into the arms of an Alliance fleet. They fought it out, leaving _Serenity_ free to crash and burn on the moon.

“We then had to attempt to fortify the building against Reavers while Reynolds ran up to Universe, discovered him dead, found a message telling him where to take the report, was intercepted by the Operative, fought with the Operative for a period of time in which he was repeatedly stabbed with a fucking sword because apparently it’s the Renaissance or something, then handicapped the Operative and forced him to watch the broadcast, at which point the Operative simply gave up, and yes, I have monitored him for three days. What little of the fleet is still flying here seems to be free of control, though I cannot really verify that,” said Erek. “I guess the Yeerks didn’t want to risk twice the lives on this mission. Anyway, the Operative is over thereabout if you want to go talk to him.”

There was a long pause, then Mal just shrugged. “Yeah, basically what he said,” he told them.

“And the crew?” Jake asked carefully.

“Zoë got hit in the back, but she’s okay,” said Kaylee. “Physically, I mean. She will be. Simon was shot, and he’s still in recovery. The rest of us are just banged up. Well, except the captain getting stabbed a lot and… and… Wash, well, he…”

Rachel tossed her rifle aside, stepped forward, and pulled Kaylee into her arms. The girl began sobbing heavily against her shoulder.

“Well, we’ll get you anything you need,” Jake promised. “If we don’t have it, I’m sure we can pull it outta any of these wrecks. Don’t worry about cost.”

“Better not charge me,” Mal joked weakly. “I didn’t fucking call you.”

“Jake,” Fox hissed behind them. “Eye on the experiment?”

Jake turned to see that Tom had also abandoned his weapons and was staring up at the sky. “Hey!” Jake said to get Tom’s attention, then signing, _What?_

_Coming,_ said Tom.

Confused, Jake asked, _What’s coming?_

_V.I.S.S.E.R,_ Tom spelled.

Fox swore. Ax grabbed up Rachel’s weapon and tossed it to her. “Everyone back on the ship!” Jake ordered. “Mal, get your crew, put them on our ship. I know you don’t want to leave _Serenity_ , but－”

“Jake, it’s too late,” said Fox. They pointed up into the sky, where Tom had been looking. What had been a large black blob was already much larger. It looked… sort of like a jellyfish. There was a large disc and then all these tentacles coming out of the bottom.

“The hell is that?” Jayne demanded.

“That’s not Alliance design,” said Erek.

“No,” Ax agreed. “That is a Yeerk mother ship. It would be the flagship of Visser One were it not for the fact that she is operating in Human space secretly.”

“Then why is she using it now?” Rachel asked as the shape grew steadily larger and closer. There was nowhere to run anymore. All they could do was watch.

“Because it’s over,” said Fox. “That video… They’ve got no reason to pretend anymore. The Human race will rebel either way, so they’re just going to go all-out. Full display of power.”

“Ax, Erek, take Tom and hide. On your way, tell Tobias and Cassie to stay on the bridge no matter what,” Jake ordered. Mal was already on his intercom, ordering the rest of his crew to stay exactly where they were. “I don’t want to see hide nor hair of you until she’s gone, whether she kills us all or not. And M－ Fox?”

Fox turned to him. “Very smooth,” they praised him. “Absolutely no one saw through that.”

“Shut up. Just promise me you won’t shoot her as soon as she shows up?” he said. “She’s worked to our benefit before. It could happen again.”

“I didn’t understand what she was before,” Fox countered.

“Fox…”

“I make no promises.” They slid their rifle into the holster on their back. “But I will attempt to let her be until we’ve heard her.”

So they waited as the shape loomed closer and closer. Until its shadow fell over them like a cloak of night and three writhing tentacles descended to grip the soil. The engines died and the unfathomably large ship bounced slightly as those tentacles took on its weight. It stayed that way for a moment, the rest of its smaller tentacles writing around like serpent tongues, taking the measure of the situation, then a chrome cylinder punched out of the gut of it straight down to the moon’s surface.

“What is that?” Jayne demanded, his gun held uselessly at the ready.

“The mother ship,” said Rachel.

“Yeah, I heard the freak the first time,” Jayne growled. He pointed at the cylinder. “I mean that!”

“It’s an elevator,” said a new voice. They turned to see a black man in an Alliance uniform walking toward them.

Mal glanced over his shoulder. “Berenson, this is the Alliance’s xiǎo lǎopó. Bái mù fucker, this is Captain Berenson of the salvage ship _Jian Seng_ , along with Rachel Berenson and Fox.”

The Operative raised an eyebrow. “ _The_ Fox?” he asked.

“There’s more than one?” said Fox.

A doorway opened at the bottom of the mini chrome shaft, and one small figure stepped out and headed toward them. She was flanked by much larger, terrifying figures. Huge, hulking, reptilian creatures covered in blades.

“What is that?” Kaylee chirped in a small voice, moving to hide behind Mal.

“Hork-Bajir,” said the Operative. “Or, to be more precise, Hork-Bajir Controllers. You ever meet a Hork-Bajir on its own, it’s surprisingly sweet.”

Jake turned toward him in surprise. “You know?” he demanded.

The Operative laughed. “Boy, you have no idea what I know.” He glanced to Mal, who was giving him a suspicious look-over. “Not as bái mù as you thought, huh?”

“You worked for them when you’re not one of them,” growled Mal. “Still bái mù.”

“Those are Taxxons,” said the Operative when three more figures followed after the Visser and her guards, massive yellow centipedes with mouths the size of their whole face, holding the forward portion of their bodies upright. “There is little difference between a Taxxon-Controller and a free Taxxon. It is considered a punishment for a Yeerk to be given one as a host.”

“They ain’t a lot uglier than them hawk-badgers,” said Jayne, pointing with his gun.

“No,” said the Operative. “But they are always hungry.”

“What do you know about the woman?” asked Fox.

“That’s Visser One, the highest rank outside of the Yeerk homeworld,” said the Operative. “Her name is Edriss five-six-two. I don’t know anything about the host.”

“What are the three numbers for?” Fox pressed.

“Birth order,” said the Operative. “It’s just part of the name.”

As soon as they were within ten feet, one of the Hork-Bajir leapt forward, quick as a flash, and tore Jayne’s rifle from his hands. “Hey!” Jayne objected. “That’s my very fa－!”

“HRAAAAAAAUR!” the Hork-Bajir growled right into his face. Jayne decided to let the gun go. The others lowered their weapons.

“That’s enough, Kenrac,” said the Visser. She stepped forward from between her two guards, eyes combing over the group. “Such a display. I’m honored.” Her eyes stopped briefly on Fox, scanned down to their sculpted brass legs, and smiled. Her attention then moved to the Operative, and she clucked her tongue. “I had such high hopes for you, Unathi. Why would you betray us? Aid our enemy?”

“Because I saw the video,” said the Operative. Unathi. Whoever he was. “You lied to me.”

“And how did I do that?” asked Visser One.

“You said that you would show them the error of their ways,” he said. “You would show them what mistake they made in leaving us behind. You did not say that you would drug them into decay and monstrosity.”

“Do you care?” she asked. “They left you for dead. You know what they call your world, Unathi.”

He nodded and dropped his gaze slightly. “Earth That Was,” he said, and Kaylee gasped, hand over her mouth. If it was possible for the two crews’ attentions to be any more rapt, they would have become so in that moment.

“Earth. That. Was,” Visser One repeated. “A thing that is over. Gone. They gave you up for dead and didn’t even bother checking that it was true.”

“That doesn’t excuse－”

“Do you think I need to be _excused_ by you?” she demanded, and Unathi froze, his breath shaking. “I am not your _peer_ , child; I am your _savior_. I am the god that walks among animals, and I will be _respected_.”

“You’re a monster,” he said as though he were realizing it for the first time.

Her smile was slow and vicious. “Yes,” she said. “Now you understand.”

She turned to leave, but he called out, “I know where your children are.”

She froze. Slowly, she turned back to him. “Yeerks do not－”

“The twins,” said Unathi. “The ones you had with your previous host, Allison Kim. You followed them here, didn’t you? Even without searching for your secrets, they were easy to see, Visser. Madra and Darwin Kim rose through the ranks even without being hosted. One of the very few free humans allowed to do so, including myself. They were then sent to be part of the Verse project, which was meant to be overseen by Visser Three, but almost immediately after they were sent, you usurped him and took the position, abandoning interest in Earth. You love them like a mother, so you hover at a careful distance, hoping to be able to protect them.

“You were wrong, of course. They disappeared on mission, leaving you to tear apart the Core in your search, very nearly exposing your activities in the process.”

“That’s enough!” Visser One snarled. “You waste your time with your useless banter. If you know where my agents are, then tell me.”

“Space debris,” said Unathi.

She hit him. The back of her hand smacking against his cheek with a sharp crack.

They stood like that for a moment. Then, she turned sharply on her heel and stalked off the way she had come, her alien guards parting for her to pass. “You’re not going to incinerate me?” Unathi called after her.

Again, she paused and turned back to him, this time with a vicious smirk. “Incinerate you?” she repeated as though it were an unbelievable accusation. “My dear Unathi… Why would I waste good meat?”

Before he had time to react, the two Hork-Bajir grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him among the three Taxxons. He screamed in agony as they devoured him alive. Then, abruptly, he made no sound at all.

Fox turned away. Jayne threw up. Kaylee broke into sobs. Mal watched with wide eyes. Jake and Rachel tightened their grips on their weapons.

Visser One watched the gruesome scene with a stony expression, then lifted her gaze to measure the two crews once more. Then, again, she turned and walked back toward her ship.

“What about these?” hissed the Hork-Bajir holding Jayne’s gun, gesturing to the other humans.

“They’re Visser Three’s problem now,” she growled.

The two beasts hesitated, but they followed her. Once they had erased all sign, every last blood drop, of the fallen operative, the Taxxons scrambled after her as well.

Fox, Jake, Rachel, Kaylee, Jayne, and Mal all watched as the aliens returned their vessel, the shaft retracted again, the engines burst to life, the tentacles released their grip on the lunar surface, and the monstrosity disappeared into the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> xiǎo lǎopó = mistress  
> bái mù = white-eyed (blind to the situation)


	5. Chapter 5

My name is Jake. Maybe. I can’t tell you my true identity because people I love are still in danger. I’ve been lucky that what’s been known of me has been recently forgotten in the change of power. I’ll make these broadcasts as regularly as I can. I will try to guide you through this.

It’s been three weeks since the Verse changed. Since the truth was broadwaved to every single operating Cortex screen. The reactions have been mixed. In some places, it has been ignored as a trick. In others, people are setting fire to everything with a Blue Sun logo and some things without. At the same time, the black market prices on food and medicine have bottomed out as the wealthy have been happy to dump their now unwanted products on people who can’t afford any alternative.

The number of rebellions has increased. Kidnappings, riots, suicides, and murders have all increased. At the same time, I’ve seen communities become tighter than ever before. I’ve spoken to my parents for the first time in over a decade. There are moons out on the Rim that are certified Alliance-free and will welcome any refugee. Food is scarce, but it’s shared.

Humanity will survive. We survived the death of the Earth. We will survive the upheaval of the Verse. My friends are out there. They will help you. They will tell you the truth. They will make sure that you and yours are safe.

And if you’re listening to this, and you’re one of the Controllers, then I want you to hear us yet again. I want you to remember.

Humanity is watching.


End file.
